1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a medical network system wherein a medical image information outputting apparatus and an image display apparatus are connected to a network, and more specifically, to a medical network system which enables color display of a visual image such that a tone of a displayed image becomes a desirable tone corresponding to the type of medical image information.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of medicine, various types of diagnostic image acquiring apparatuses using X rays or the like are being used. X-ray photographing apparatuses, RI apparatuses, CR (Computed Radiography) apparatuses, CT (Computed Tomography) apparatuses, US (Ultrasonography) apparatuses, and MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) apparatuses have been put into practice, for example.
Image information acquired by these apparatuses are converted into a TV image signal according to the NTSC method or the like after desired image processing such as frequency processing or tone processing has been carried out thereon. The image signal is then displayed as a visual image on an image display apparatus such as a CRT display, an LCD or an organic EL display, to be used in a medical facility for diagnosing a lesion, injury and the like and the degree thereof.
A CR apparatus means a radiation image recording reading apparatus for recording radiation image information of a subject such as a human body on a stimulable phosphor sheet which emits light upon exposure to a stimulating ray such as visible light and infrared light in accordance with radiation energy stored thereon due to radiation irradiated thereon and for acquiring an image signal by photoelectrically reading the emitted light while scanning the stimulable phosphor sheet with the stimulating ray. Recently, CR apparatuses have been widely spread and put into practice (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 62(1987)-18536, for example).
A medical network system wherein a diagnostic workstation comprising the above-described image display apparatus or the like and various types of image acquiring apparatuses are networked has also been proposed so that medical doctors can diagnose at a location remote from the image acquiring apparatuses.
Since images to be displayed are mixture of monochrome images, such as CT images, and colored images, such as MRI images, an image display apparatus enabling color display is used as a component of the diagnostic workstation and an image to be displayed in monochrome is usually displayed on the image display apparatus by input of its image signal into the RGB input of the display apparatus.
A medical image obtained by any image acquiring apparatus such as the CR apparatus described above is often viewed in a preferred tone depending on the image acquiring apparatus, by being displayed on an image display in a console of the image acquiring apparatus or by being output from a printer of the image acquiring apparatus. Consequently, tones of the displayed images are different depending on each image acquiring apparatus, regardless of the fact that they are all gray-scale images.
Therefore, in the case where a network is configured and one image display apparatus is commonly used as the image display apparatus for each of the image acquiring apparatuses, the tone needs to be changed in accordance with the type of image information input to the display apparatus, in order to maintain the environment of viewing in the same tone as on the display apparatus operated by the console of each image acquiring apparatus.
However, when a network is configured, there is a wide variety of image acquiring apparatuses and the tone is different in some cases, even for the same type of image acquiring apparatuses, depending on manufacturers, production lots, or models. Furthermore, different portions of a subject may be displayed in different tones. Therefore, it is necessary to change the tone setting so as to cause the displayed image to have a desired tone. However, there is also a wide variety of input image information and it is troublesome for an operator to change the setting every time so that the tone of the displayed image becomes desirable depending on the type of image information.
The present invention has been conceived based on consideration of the above problems. An object of the present invention is to provide a medical network system which can easily change the tone of an image to be displayed to a desired one corresponding to the type of image information according to image information outputting apparatus and a photographed portion of a subject, even when a common image display apparatus is used in the medical network system.
In a medical network system of the present invention where medical image information outputting apparatuses and an image display apparatus shared for displaying image information output from the medical image information outputting apparatuses as visual images are networked, the image display apparatus comprises:
image display means such as a CRT display, an LCD, or an organic EL display for displaying the visual image in color; and tone correcting means for correcting the image information so that the tone of the visual image becomes a desired tone corresponding to the type of image information and for inputting the corrected image information to the image display means.
The xe2x80x9cmedical image information outputting apparatusesxe2x80x9d herein referred to mean apparatuses which output medical image information to the image display apparatus. A typical medical image information outputting apparatus is an image acquiring apparatus such as the CR apparatus described above. However, the medical image information outputting apparatuses are not limited to those described above. For example, in the case where image information acquired by a CR apparatus or the like is stored in a storage device using a recording medium such as an optical disc and the image information is output from the storage device to the image display apparatus upon display of an image, the storage device serves as the medical image information outputting apparatus.
xe2x80x9cThe type of image informationxe2x80x9d determines the tone of an image to be displayed on the image display means according to the content of the image information, such as the type of medical image information outputting apparatus having output the image information or the type of a photographed body portion. xe2x80x9cThe type of medical image information outputting apparatusxe2x80x9d includes not only the type of apparatus such as a CR apparatus or an MRI apparatus but also a classification such that a difference in manufacturers, product lots or models for the same type of image information outputting apparatus is distinguished thereby, for example.
The xe2x80x9cdesired tone corresponding to the type of image informationxe2x80x9d means the tone determined by the content of the image information and can be set arbitrarily according to a preference of a viewer. The setting can be carried out in detail by specifying chromaticity coordinates (such as X, Y, Z coordinates or L*, a, b coordinates) by using tone correction look-up table changing means, for example.
xe2x80x9cThe image display meansxe2x80x9d can be any means as long as it can display visual images in color. The image display means may be a soft copy displaying apparatus such as the CRT display, the LCD, and the organic EL display described above, or a hard copy outputting apparatus such as an LP (Laser Printer).
It is preferable for tone correcting means of the image display apparatus in this system to comprise a plurality of tone correction look-up tables for correcting the image information according to the type of image information and selection means for selecting the tone correction look-up table corresponding to the type of input image information. In this manner, the tone correcting means can correct the image information by using the tone correction look-up table selected by the selection means.
Furthermore, if the image information includes information indicating its type as accompanying information and the selection means selects the tone correction look-up table based on the accompanying information, the look-up table can be selected automatically by reading the type from the accompanying information.
To xe2x80x9cselect the tone correction look-up table based on the accompanying informationxe2x80x9d means to identify the image information outputting apparatus having the image information or the type of the image to be output, by reading the type of the image information from the information accompanying the image information and to select the tone correction look-up table corresponding to the identified type of the image information.
Furthermore, a medical network connecting method of the present invention is a method of connecting, to a medical network, medical image information outputting apparatuses and an image display apparatus shared for displaying image information output from the medical image information outputting apparatuses as visual images in color, and the image information is input to the image display apparatus after being corrected so that the tone of the visual image becomes a desired tone corresponding to the type of image information.
According to the medical network system of the present invention, image information is corrected so that the tone of the image to be displayed on the image display apparatus becomes desirable corresponding to the type of image information. Therefore, even when the tone of the images to be displayed varies corresponding to the type of image information, as in the tone difference between images obtained by a CR apparatus and an MRI apparatus, the tone can be corrected to a desired one corresponding to the type of image information.
Furthermore, if the look-up tables are used for correction of the image information, the correction can be carried out easily. Moreover, if the type of the image information is read from the accompanying information, the correction can be carried out automatically.